Universities are Changing for Climate Change
As students put more pressure on universities to break billion-dollar ties with fossil fuels, institutions are enacting more sustainable initiatives and starting to "practice what they preach".
As institutions largely responsible for enabling research on climate change, it may be surprising that universities have been slow to adopt more sustainable initiatives. Although student activism regarding climate change has been going strong for some time, universities haven’t seen any more reform than other industries. But, that’s been changing. Universities are reacting more and more to student pressure to make radical institutional changes, so that they “practice what they preach” when it comes to climate change research.
In light of NYU’s divestment from fossil fuels this month, we’re diving into the topic. Why do universities have a special role in addressing climate change? In what ways do they act? Read on to learn about:
How much money fossil fuel companies have donated to universities
Student protests and global guidelines for change
How a Saudi Arabian university is leading the charge
A 800 student-strong effort to sustainably feed their entire UK university
Universities’ Role in Climate Change
The responsibility of academic institutions when it comes to climate change may initially seem ill-posed. Why do universities have any more responsibility than any other institution or industry? After all, they aren’t in the energy sector and aren’t often viewed as key players in sustainability policies and initiatives.
Nonetheless, many believe that universities do have a unique role. Some argue that universities need to modify their curriculum and emphasis on environmental sustainability because they are trying to shape the next generation of world leaders. This is one of the key motivations of a youth-driven project, created to generate attention around how top-ranking universities seem to be failing at effectively creating the next generation of world leaders prepared to tackle a low-carbon future. The group examined how often sustainability was mentioned on the websites of the top 20 universities, according to Times Higher Education rankings, and determined that all fell short. Moreover, the top five schools ranked the worst, driving the advocates to call for curriculum changes at these institutions. Although the assessment isn’t as robust as a full-blown study, it reflects new expectations regarding the role universities play in reacting to climate change. Not to mention, the selection of high-ranking universities presents its own issue and biases, which you can read about in our previous newsletter.
However, this reasoning extends well beyond small advocacy groups. Back in 2014, a specific UNESCO group was set up in order to increase Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) “at all levels and in all areas of education, and in all sustainable development sectors.” This ambitious goal meant that everyone, including university students, would learn how to live and support a sustainable future. UNESCO has been working towards fulfilling its ESD goals by 2030, with its roadmap in 2020 and the Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development in 2021. Just this month it announced a new global network to connect members better and help meet ESD goals. With nearly 200 country members invited and represented by thousands of stakeholders, it’s clear that educational leaders across the world are taking responsibility for ESD.
How Universities are Responding
As more expectations and responsibilities are placed on universities when it comes to climate change, institutions are evolving and reacting in different ways. Broadly, responses are either internal (such as making their infrastructure more sustainable, adapting teaching curriculums, etc.) or external (divesting funds from fossil fuels, engaging with communities). We’ll explore two of these below, although they represent just a sample of the diverse and creative ways universities are responding.
Fossil Fuel Divestment
One area of contention that has seen growing awareness is the divestment of university funds from fossil fuels. Universities endowments — the funds which support the university — are continuously invested. The return on these investments is a key source of revenue, and keeps a university running.
Since these investments are on the order of billions of dollars (Australian universities alone gained over AU$1 billion in 2020 from dividends and interest), they represent sizeable contributions to both the revenue of universities, and investments in the industrial sectors. Various advocacy and student groups have been increasingly applying pressure on universities to divest, so that their investments don’t continue to support fossil fuels. In fact, Australia is one of the last battlefields when it comes to the debate on divesting from fossil fuels. Already, over 700 institutions worldwide have divested over $5 trillion from fossil fuels. In the UK in particular, over 100 universities have committed to divesting from fossil fuels in some way.
However, it’s also not as simple as just divesting. A study found that in the past 10 years, fossil fuel companies have donated US$700 million to U.S. universities, making some suspicious of conflicts of interest. Yet, some researchers justify these contributions, as well as the partnerships their institutions have with oil. One professor who researches biofuel, recycling, and related topics at the University of Wisconsin, argues that industry professionals provide value because they have a better understanding of what’s needed to implement new approaches at scale.
Internal Transformation
One of the most remarkable examples of a university taking responsibility for its sustainability standards has unfolded over the past couple years at York St John University in England. They’re tackling the problem of sustainably feeding the entire campus, and students are a key part of the solution. 800 students across a range of domains contribute to “Feeding the Campus”. They’re about halfway through the program, and have completed a variety of projects like exploring the ethics of their Catering's supply chain and developing “micro-horror” films on recycling and waste.
Feeding the Campus further explores how their university can help with the broader food system in their region. This community-driven stewardship is widely viewed as a key responsibility of universities everywhere, and some argue that it applies to climate change as well.
In fact, student-led initiatives in sustainability have been going for some time, like the energy-saving competition between two student buildings at Victoria University Wellington in 2015. By teaching basic energy-saving techniques, the competition ended up saving NZ$50,000 in energy costs.
Additionally exciting is the goal of one university president to attain “net-zero carbon emissions, zero waste and zero wastewater” for his institution. Interestingly, this comes from Tony Chan, the president of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Remarkably, this institution working at the heart of fossil fuel and petroleum research, is unique in its ambitious sustainability goals.
Universities are facing challenges on numerous fronts, needing to respond to academic integrity, diploma mills, the reproducibility crisis and student mental health. However, the responsibility these institutions have towards climate and sustainability is unique. Changes in this realm are often driven by student involvement, whereas most of the other aforementioned issues are largely unknown by students. Not only do students advocate for changes through protests, but even participate in forming new solutions. Additionally, with the worldwide commitment and drive to improve (as evidenced by the UNESCO ESD goals), few other issues are being tackled with such global agreement.
What are your experiences so far with how universities handle the pressures and expectations regarding their role in combating climate change? Do you know any exciting initiatives at your own institution? Share with us in the comments below.
Resources
We Got NYU to Divest From Fossil Fuels — And That’s Just the Start Sept 16, 2023
ESD for 2030 Global Network Sept 6, 2023
Fossil fuel companies donated $700m to US universities over 10 years March 2, 2023
Why don’t universities practise what they preach on climate? Feb 4, 2023
UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development A roadmap, 2020
Exposing the ties between Australian universities and the fossil fuel industry Dec 2018